In surprise move, Yasmin Mahmood resigns as CEO of MDEC

IN A surprise move, Yasmin Mahmood, the dynamic chief executive officer (CEO) of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has tendered her resignation as CEO of the agency she has led for the last four years. Yasmin will relinquish her position as CEO and all other positions within MDEC effective Jan 15, 2019. She joined MDEC as CEO on Sept 15, 2014.

In a release posted on MDEC’s website, Yasmin says: “It is with a heavy heart that I am tendering my resignation as CEO of MDEC to pursue a role with a tech venture in Jakarta.” The tech venture is not named.

“It has been an absolute honour to have served in this position for the last four years and three months. I have put my heart and soul into the role to bring MDEC to a higher level of effectiveness and relevance, not only with the initiatives and strategies we’ve implemented but also with the cultural transformation of the people in MDEC,” she added.

“I wish to express my appreciation to the Board for their guidance and support throughout my tenure. It has been a great honour serving the nation. I wish everyone at MDEC the very best on their continued journey.”

Speaking on her contribution to the agency and the ecosystem, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Gobind Singh Deo said, “We thank Yasmin for her stewardship in leading MDEC and all her contributions to the digitaleconomy ecosystem. Her passion, commitment and energy in seeing things through to the very end has benefited Malaysia throughout the years.”

Thanking her for her leadership, acting MDEC chairman Mathialakan Chelliah said: “Yasmin has been a very strong and engaged visionary leader at MDEC. Her ability to drive outcome-focused initiatives at a national scale is unparalleled. We are extremely grateful for her tireless efforts in serving the nation the last few years and are indeed saddened that she will be leaving MDEC.” Mathialakan took over from MDEC chairman, Sidek Hassan who resigned quietly on Oct 16.

Under Yasmin’s leadership, MDEC had embarked and participated in nation-building projects such as the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to encourage the Malaysian small-medium enterprise (SME) community to embrace e-commerce, brought in foreign direct investments (FDIs) into Malaysia, nurtured the Malaysian technology ecosystem, including startups and local companies to world-class levels, empowered the future generation with the necessary skills and knowledge (via MyDigitalMaker), and encouraged inclusivity amongst the rakyat through initiatives such as eRezeki and eUsahawan so that the rakyat could earn additional income from the Digital Economy.

The information, communications and technology (ICT) industry has also expressed their gratitude for Yasmin’s efforts to uplift the nation’s Digital Economy.

National ICT Association of Malaysia (Pikom) chairman Ganesh Kumar Bangah praised Yasmin for having brought “the work ethics and spirit of her 30 years of experience from the private sector and international multinational companies (MNCs) into the public sector for the benefit of the local ICT industry.” Yasmin was previously the general manager of HP and Dell, and managing director of Microsoft Malaysia.

In the meantime, a management committee will be activated as part of the transition plan to oversee the agency’s operations during the process of appointing a new CEO. Yasmin leaves after spearheading the strategy and planning for MDEC’s 2019 initiatives.